Might of One EP 4: Warriors of Athens
by SoulsSwords
Summary: The gang's journey comes to a halt when they ship-wreck in a new world known as Greece. When a woman there claims to have knowledge of Taki's whereabouts, they agree to go on the grueling quest to bring back two siblings prohibited of their freedom.
1. Sinful Creatures

The trio boarded on a large ship the minute before it set sail. The two girls had to have their weapons checked while Xiba got to keep his Kali-Yuga handy, strapped onto his back. After the girls sheathed their swords, they watched the mountains get smaller and smaller. "Wow…" Leixia muttered, "This is the first time I've left Asia…"

Xiba wasn't impressed, "This is the first time I've left _home_." Natsu giggled at that, in awe herself about how far she'd come, how far she'd ventured from Japan…how much closer she was getting to Taki. Soon enough she'd be having the sweetest reunion yet.

"Xiba, how long is this trip going to take?" Leixia had already started complaining,

"Faster than it would if we had to sail around Africa." He not so humbly exclaimed. His biting wit was already annoying the Chinese girl as she growled and went back to looking out around them. Natsu pondered if she should mention Arahabaki to him or not, especially since he was now travelling with them.

"Okay…" Leixia tried to reason with him, "How about how long until we're in the rivers of Persia?"

"Probably a day or two…some say it's really corrupt there."

"Really?" he'd caught Natsu's attention, "How so?"

"Well, in some books I've read, there was a rumor of this monstrous golem created by the God of war himself, he supposedly resides in-"

"The Shrine of Palgaea!" Natsu chimed in, "I know exactly what you're talking about."

"So…" Leixia awkwardly added, not having a clue, "You guys read the same book?"

"He carries a giant axe, and is maybe 7 feet tall! He was around during the time of-"

"Soul Edge." Xiba finished her sentence, "He wanted it so bad that even when it was destroyed," the two both talked in synch,

"He recreated himself from his own corpse!" So this boy _was _full of knowledge, just as Natsu was. Neither one of them had anything else but books and time (except when Xiba was being pummeled by his father).

Leixia felt embarrassed, not knowing about any of this until now, "Ah…em…" she fake cleared her throat. Natsu sheepishly turned to her,

"Oh, sorry Leixia, but it's true! After the Evil Seed happened, Ares himself created Astaroth, the Harbinger of Destruction to bring him Soul Edge."

As if Leixia hadn't heard enough stories of the "Evil Seed" and "Soul Edge". "Well, I knew nothing of Astaroth, but I do know of a reptilian army created in Palgaea's sister shrine, Kunpaetku." She leaned against the rim as Natsu became curious,

"Reptilian…?" Xiba asked,

"You mean…like lizards?" Natsu tried to confirm,

"Exactly like lizards," she remembered everything her mother told her when she was taken to the shrine, "Some say the lizardmen's leader used to be human, a man who received an oracle from an Olympian God to destroy Soul Edge. He was from Sparta, the Ottoman Empire."

Natsu smiled, going on to a different topic, "The Ottoman Empire always sounded so beautiful…I've always wanted to see Athens, Greece." She could see the illustrations from her books as she described it, "I've always wanted to see the Eurydice Shrines."

Xiba winced, "The Euro what?"

Natsu leaned her head back, the pictures and captions from the novel filled her with wanderlust as she quoted it, "The Eurydice Shrine; the gods of Olympus are long forgotten, but proof remains that they once existed. This temple in the clouds is one of them. This circular temple in Athens, Ottoman Empire, said to have been constructed by Hephaestus himself, stands at the peak of the mountain. Around the sides of the mountain spirals a giant stairway, that no mortal can climb it.

"Man themselves constructed a corridor for human use beside the stairway of the gods to worship them. Any who approaches it now is sure to be awestruck by its beauty." Despite the beautiful description Natsu knew by heart, she wasn't surprised to see the confused expressions of her friends, she blushed and giggled,

"Hehe, I sort of read that book a couple times."

They could hear thunder as they turned their attention to the storm ahead, Xiba then remembered a sinister side note in the novel, "You know, some say that even though the wicked sword is gone, its minions still wander around thinking it's alive."

Leixia remembered Xianghua's words, "Its minions wander in darkness thinking they are lords…The Azure Knight was their only key of power."

Natsu finished one last quote, "Some say they think it will return, as they murder countless souls as they wait…"

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

In the depths of the Middle East, in the darkest night he'd seen in years, a man slept, greedily holding onto his newfound treasure. He had thanked the unholy priest of Kunpaetku for his reward. The treasure was nothing more than long golden metal slits that were once nothing more than iron rods.

The man was not alone; around him someone lurked. Darkness had swallowed the sky as not a soul would know a man was sleeping near a sinful shrine that night. A large black shape moved with its thin limbs splayed out. It came down head first, smelling its way. Similar shapes followed their leader. They prowled down the hill quietly as it was now only mere feet away from its prey.

The wretched creature's hiss of breath sounded like a curse. As the jaded creatures prepared to strike, the man awoke with a fit, fighting the humanoid reptiles who wielded nothing but claws and spiked tails. The lizardmen attacked trying to take his treasure, as she tried to run; they were all out for a chase when he was blocked by a black, misty giant whose dismantled face was only lit by the moonlight. It lifted the man by his shirt's collar,

"What is that you hold?" The man bellowed in a dark, deep tone.

"Nothing here! Just gold! I found it myself! I claim it!" The giant soldier revealed its axe, which was just as large as he, he tossed the man aside, it was like flicking an insect. The man's treasury was no more than he claimed; gold. His scaled soldiers hissed in disappointment. That's when he noticed one piece that emanated a demonic light. He clenched it with his paw.

"You know of Soul Edge." He roared to the frightened man,

"I know nothing!" he pleaded, "It was destroyed 17 years ago! I swear!" the giant hoisted his axe, slicing the piece of earth next to the man,

"It has been remade."

As the lizardmen began to pick and tear at their new meal, Astaroth admired the unholy object he wielded. One piece at a time, the sword's wickedness was becoming one again.


	2. Violent Winds and Murderous Waves

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The three slept in the interior of the ship, all sharing a room. Each little deck included two sets of bunk beds on either side, Leixia and Natsu shared a bunk bed while Xiba rested alone. Once the three were done whining at how rickety and unsettling the wooden walls were and got used to the feeling of the room swaying, they were able to relax.

Xiba, a naturally early riser, sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He was thankful upon seeing his two female roommates were asleep as he'd taken his shirt off during the night. It was so hot on the inside of the ship, that he feared he would drown in pools of sweat rather than the ocean.

"Where'd it go?" he grumbled to himself as he knelt down searching under the bed. Perhaps he placed it on the top bunk for some reason? He noticed his Kali-Yuga was up there as well. He stood on the rim of the bed, holding himself upward; the creaking awoke Leixia, who was groggy and agitated from the difficult night of traveling.

"Ah..." he sighed, having found it; he turned around, not expecting to see Leixia awake; as she wasn't expecting to see him shirtless. The two stood in awkward silence, blushed hugely, and turned away from each other.

"It was hot!" Xiba argued later that morning out on the deck,

"But you were in a room full of girls!"

"What's the big deal? It wasn't anything you'd never seen before!" he asserted, having known many male warriors often trained shirtless.

"But still you-ugh!" she crossed her arms, unable to think of anything.

"You just want a reason to argue with me, don't you?" her immaturity was getting on the wildling's last nerve.

Natsu approached them, bringing them the breakfast the ship served, "Hey, hey, what's with the arguing?" she gently tried to maintain peace, neither one of them replied as they stared off into the horizon, "I got us some food!" she stressed the 'food' as she gingerly tried to hand them their bags of some sort of snack item.

She hated it when she had to be the oldest one, granted she _was_. She sadly looked at her bag, "Well, I guess I can talk to you in the meantime." Natsu then realized it was even sadder that she'd resorted to a bag of snacks for company.

"It's fine Natsu." The infuriated boy began, "It's just Leixia likes conflict a little too much."

"I don't like conflict!" she retaliated, "I'm just irritated." She was figuratively sea-sick. Natsu understood the feeling,

"It's fine you two, we've been on a boat for a few days and it gets frustrating having nothing to do. But we're almost there! We're in the Black Sea now!" She cheerfully exclaimed. The ninja noticed she'd lost Leixia's attention when she was staring off past her, her face looked a little flushed,

"What's…wrong?" Leixia turned Natsu's head around for her to spot a particularly hunky Asian man in white clothing. He looked older but he was extremely fit, he appeared to be a sailor, but the nunchaku strapped to his waist added some mystery to the man. The two girls were entranced as Xiba rolled his eyes. The man noticed the staring girls as their cheeks grew hotter by the second.

They grew even tenser when he approached them, towering over the three, "Well, what's a couple of kids like you doing on this ship?" Natsu and Leixia were tongue tied as Xiba approached the gentlemen,

"We're going to the British Empire, Natsu here is looking for her mother, and meanwhile Leixia's running away from her own." The man raised a brow,

"What about you?"

"I came because I was bored." He lied. He hated talking about his personal life with strangers. The man shook his head,

"Uh huh…"

"Um…erm…" Natsu blubbered, "What's your name, sir?"

"Maxi. Captain, wayfarer, and former kick-ass warrior." He chuckled. Natsu didn't understand why he still had his weapons,

"_Former _warrior?"

"Ah, yes. 17 years ago I killed some goddamned freakish monstrosity. Right after that Soul Edge was destroyed." He beamed with pride.

"Monstrosity, do you mean…Aster…" Leixia tried to pronounce,

"Astaroth. That freak killed my entire crew. I didn't rest until I finally found him." He noticed the three were intrigued, so he continued, "In the meantime, I traveled with two companions, a man and a woman." He paused, reminiscing about his deepest friends, "Xianghua and Kilik."

The world froze for Xiba and Leixia upon hearing those names. Maxi could see the sudden shock in their eyes and worried, "Is something wrong?" Natsu looked back at her two friends, fretful,

"Kilik? You mean my father?" Xiba buzzed. Maxi was now as stunned as they were,

"And Xianghua? My mother?" He then noticed the heavy resemblance Leixia bore. He also looked at the weapon strapped diagonally on Xiba's back.

The Kali-Yuga… "Humph." He grinned, "So you _are _Kilik's son. I'm guessing he taught you everything you know?"

"Unfortunately." Xiba scowled.

"And what about you? Did your mom show you her kick-ass skills?" He remembered how fast she was, how fleeting like the wind.

Leixia belittled, "Kick-ass? Yeah, right! I ran away from her because she didn't want me in this world! My father is a Chinese general and trained me all my life." Maxi was appalled at the two's attitudes of their parents,

Had they changed since he'd last saw them? "Sir! The lifeboat is ready!" A man called to Maxi,

"Lifeboat?" Natsu chimed in, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Indeed. I heard rumors of a 'black giant' roaming around the Middle East in the night…I gotta make sure that freak isn't around still." He looked at his nunchaku, knowing it was time for them to return, "Until then, I wish you the best of luck in finding your mother. Judging by your weapons, you'll all be fine."

"Goodbye!" Natsu called before the Japanese sailor disappeared as the small boat was lowered into the ocean. She turned around to see her friends clouded with confusion. "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we'll be okay." Xiba reassured.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Darkness swallowed the sky as the sounds of Gods beating on their drums slowly got louder and more aggressive. Leixia was on the upper deck, staring off. She grew apprehensive, "I don't like this…" Natsu approached her,

"It'll be fine. I'm sure the crew would turn around if it were bad." She forced a giggle, not too sure of this herself, Xiba ran up to them,

"Uh, guys, the crew is preparing lifeboats…"

"What?" they catechized,

"They didn't inform us?"

"Well…" he scratched the back of his head, "They did when I asked them what they were doing."

"Natsu…" she grabbed her arm in panic,

"Okay, well let's get on one and leave!"

"Did I mention that they said 'everyman for themselves' as some of them jumped out?" Xiba sheepishly added. Natsu froze the lack of simple humanity! Obviously let the children leave first! Though Leixia, at a tender 15, was the youngest one on board…

Thunder clouds rolled in, it started to rain, but the sea grew rough as its waves crashed into the wooden ship. "I don't understand!" Natsu announced over the sound of roaring rain, "It's just a storm! Why would they abandon us?"

"Do you think maybe that's why?" Xiba screamed, pointing to a ship that appeared from the mist entitled, _Adrian_.

"Adrian…why does that sound so familiar?" she'd heard of it in the stories of Soul Edge…perhaps that is what made the crew lose their nerve.

They heard a high-pitched shrill over the showers of water, "LEIXIA!" Natsu screamed, rushing over to her aid. Xiba and Natsu were suddenly knocked down and tumbled over to the left as the ship tilted due to the combined pressure of the waves and wind. After both slamming into the side of the ship, Xiba regained his balance, rushing towards Leixia.

"HELP ME!" She shrieked, Natsu looked up to see the pendant on Leixia's collar being tugged at by an invisible force. She was trying to reach for her sword but every time she'd let go of her necklace, the force would begin to choke her. She was hoisted in midair as she struggled and gagged.

Xiba stood behind the unseen being and held out Kali-Yuga. He appeared utterly conflicted, "HIT IT, XIBA!"

"I CAN'T SEE IT!" he feared he would hit Leixia. Natsu ran up, as Xiba waved his rod in front of Leixia, it simply sliced the down pour of rain as he hit nothing. Natsu could see how high Leixia was lifted…she took out her swords and charged towards her, Xiba was distraught as he thought she was only going to slice her into pieces,

"Natsu! What are you doing?" After she span around, striking the figure twice, Leixia was dropped, landing with a heavy THUD on the wooden floor. She attempted to sit up but couldn't.

"How did you hit it?" Xiba demanded as he saw Natsu furiously looking into the sky,

"I can see it." It wasn't a man, nor a demon, but something far more evil. What it wanted with Leixia's Dvapara-Yuga she didn't know…but it was gone now. At least she thought, the bottom of the ship began to crack and obliterate, either due to the water's pressure or some twisted plot of a creature. The three panicked as they hadn't a clue where they were, nor how to survive in these rough waters.

The pounding and destruction of the ship brought frenzy to the trio as they couldn't even stand to run. It was similar to being in a dream; one's legs are weak and feeble, they cannot run let alone stand. They are forced to remain where they are. Unfortunately, this was reality. Natsu in a panic strived to think; think of something aside from the fear. If they had something to hold onto, perhaps treading through these massive waves wouldn't be as much of a strain.

"GUYS!" she crawled over to the two and she instructed them to hang on to the rim next to them. Since the ship was going down, they knew they had to hold on to _something_. "DON'T LET GO!" Without any time to respond to her command, the ship's exterior came crashing down, they then realized how high they were as they screamed, clawing into the wood. It was too much for any of them as they perished into the depths below.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Though it was only seconds later after the impact, Natsu believed it was hours. She had plunged deeper than anticipated and clawed and fought her way to reach the surface. While the intellectually knew she wouldn't make it as her lungs overflowed with sea water, she emotionally wasn't ready to die.

She was so close, her finger tips could reach the surface…but it was too late as she found herself about to go limp, there was a _POW_!

Natsu grabbed on to debris from the ship as she hyperventilated for air, something inside her launched her head above the surface. Did she do it unconsciously? Now wasn't the time, she whipped her head back and forth, "LEIXIA!" she couldn't even hear her own cries as the rain suffocated her, deluding any other sound aside from explosive water drops into the ocean. "XIBA!" she tried again. She didn't hear anything. She took a chance and stuck her head underwater, which was useless; it was pitch black.

Natsu felt herself giving in and welting up, "Please…" she rested her head on the companion debris, she sulked, with all the rain no one would be able to tell, "Please answer me." She begged in vain. She didn't want to be alone…she blamed it on herself for being separated, for endangering their lives. She would never forgive herself.

As Natsu sniffled, wiping the tears, though she couldn't tell the difference between them, the sea, or the rain. She looked at her hand, using the other to hold herself above the water…she had powers. She wasn't sure how they would work at the moment but she had them. "No…" she thought, Edge Master's voice suddenly appeared, _"Courage is not the absence of fear."_

She was afraid she'd lost her two greatest companions…but that wasn't going to stop her from finding them in this abyss of an ocean. Natsu hoisted herself onto the debris, balancing so she was standing upright. As the clouds flashed with light, she held up Awayuuki, holding her other hand steady, having an idea.

This was for Leixia, for Xiba…this was to find her mother. This wasn't her time to die. A bolt of electricity wrapped itself around Natsu's sword and arm as it slithered its way to her other hand. Instead of releasing it, she allowed the electricity to build up in her palm. It stung and burned. She screamed in both agony and fury as once it was ready, she shot the beam of light into the sky, before sliding off of the debris back into the freezing water.

The rain suddenly eased before ceasing entirely. The clouds began to dissipate showing a clear night sky. She wasn't sure what she'd done, but it worked. Natsu couldn't help herself as she crawled onto the wooden companion and slept lightly, weakened.

Leixia and Xiba were safe. She had faith in them.


	3. The Request

As a pale, rosy dawn marched into the sky, a sleepless ninja finally saw hope at the end of the horizon as she saw land. After temporarily collapsing from exhaustion, Natsu refused to allow herself to fall asleep in fear of drifting farther and farther out in sea. It looked mountainous though it appeared to be just an island.

She held on to the piece of the ship as she paddled her way causing the land to grow and grow. When she could finally feel sand beneath her feet, she forcibly made her way to shore; it was a beach, barricaded from the rest of the land by a massive rock wall.

Natsu, breathless, began to wonder how anyone would find her when she heard a loud moan from behind her. A familiar soaking wet boy, who'd used his rod as an oar, approached the brim. "Xiba!" she called out, she ran over to the boy, who was as debilitated and beat as she was.

She hugged him, overwhelmed with happiness, "You're okay!" he the two shivered from their mutual body temperatures, but something was still missing,

"I am, where's Leixia?" he canvassed. Natsu was reminded that they weren't in the clear yet; however, she assumed he was with her,

"You mean you didn't see her?"

"Not after plunging ten feet deep into the pitch black ocean!" he reminded, noting he had the same problem as she. Natsu panicked,

"No…Leixia!" As she was about to willingly run back out of the coast line, the two watched as a waterlogged girl with the color drained from her face due to her weakened state stepped onto the sand. Leixia allowed herself to fall into the dust. She coughed and wheezed violently; Natsu was straight away at her side,

"Leixia!" She hugged her tightly; it was worse than when she nearly drowned out there. But Natsu couldn't contain her joy; everyone was safe and they were together. They may all be soaked and shivering, but they were together.

After showing mutual relief in finding each other and sucking it up about wearing their wet clothes, it was back to the plan, "Okay…so we all agree, no more boats." That was a given, "But right now, we have to pinpoint where we are so we can figure out where to go from here."

Leixia held herself in her frostiness, "And how do you suppose we do that?" she bitterly questioned, "We take out a map and point us out?"

"Leixia, please…for the rest of this journey, we have to take precautions..." they were puzzled upon seeing her green eyes grow glassy, "I never want to think I've lost you two again…"

The two Chinese Washus looked at her with sympathy, "It was pretty scary out there…but that was only the ocean." Xiba began.

"People keep talking about Soul Edge." Leixia reminded her, she was hearing it more than when her mother talked about it, "I think no matter where we go we're in danger." It wasn't pessimism, it was the truth. Three teenagers with little fighting experience against an army of pure wickedness.

Natsu tried to remain level-headed, "We'll be alright." A spider slowly creeped up her back, "As long as we stick together and remain calm we should…" she looked to see an 8-legged creature on her shoulder, "SPIDER!" The two watched as she spazzed out attempting to flick it and smack it. "GET IT OFF! SHOO! SHOO!" she was finally free of the arachnid and recomposed herself. She blushed as she noticed the smiles on her friends,

"You were saying?" Xiba grinned.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

The three found a pathway up into the rocky wall, it led to nothing but land, more land, and even more land. They feared they were on a deserted island, "So…any good news…?" Natsu began to doubt her leadership skills,

"Nope. Just grass and trees." Leixia didn't worry as at least the hot sun had dried them and warmed them.

Xiba was standing at the edge of a cliff, he seemed to be awestruck by something, "Xiba?" the two girls stood behind him, still unsure of what he was looking at,

"Hey guys, are you sure we didn't die out there?"

Leixia winced, "What?"

Xiba brought them closer, "Because I'm pretty sure this is heaven."

Down the cliff they saw beautiful mountains, one with a large, spiraling staircase. Just below the majestic mountain, was some sort of temple, a shrine with waterfalls, marble floors and gorgeous stone statues of the Olympian Gods.

"Where are we?" Leixia whispered, completely drawn to its beauty, Natsu immediately knew where she was, holding her mouth agape she answered,

"Athens."

Greece. They ship wrecked in Greece, a beautiful part of the Ottoman Empire. The three made their way down, admiring the beauty of the Eurydice Shrine arena, so much wonder, so many new things to see. Xiba saw a stone statue of Medusa, he laughed at the irony. Leixia admired a statue that depicted a woman with wings holding up a lit torch in triumph, it was Nike, Goddess of Victory.

She gently held the handle of her own sword in praise. Natsu on the other hand was looking at _everything_. She never imagined she'd one day be in Athens, let alone because of a ship wreck. She found herself holding out her arms and twirling, "Oh this is so beautiful!" she proclaimed, she gazed into the largest statue; it was Hephaestus, God of fire and forge. He held up a shield and sword.

Natsu wanted to touch the marble replica of the shield, as she slowly put her finger tips against it, they heard a voice, "Hello?" the three turned around to see a blonde woman, presumably in her late thirties, approach them. She looked kind enough, the trio all stepped in front of her,

"Oh, sorry, we were just-" Leixia began, but the woman interrupted her,

"Those weapons…" she realized that these weren't just any teenagers, "Are you servants of the wicked sword?"

"Huh?" Xiba raised a brow,

"No!" Natsu quickly stepped out of the line, "We're on a journey to find my mother. I'm Natsu, this is Leixia, and that's Xiba."

Leixia kindly waved and Xiba belted out, "How's it going?"

"Oh…" the woman realized she made a mistake, "Well, pardon me." She reaffirmed, "It's just we don't get many foreign visitors."

"Who are you m'am?" Natsu bowed, just in case.

"I'm Cassandra Alexandra."

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Cassandra took the three back to her home where her brother Lucius and brother-in-law Rothion greeted them. Upon seeing the treasure load of weapons on the walls, they were quite interested in the family. Rothion poured them tea, "So you came all the way here from Asia?"

"Well, yes." Leixia explained, "We weren't even supposed to be here, our ship crashed and we barely made it out alive." What was sad was she wasn't exaggerating.

"My god…" Lucius sipped his tea, trying to comprehend everything they'd just told them,

"Well that explains how you ended up here, but what's a couple of kids traveling so far for anyway?" Cassandra quizzed.

The two looked at Natsu, knowing if it weren't for her, they wouldn't be on this adventure, "Well, I'm looking for my mother…her name is Taki." She didn't notice Cassandra choking as she swallowed her drink. She was appalled upon hearing the name 'Taki', "All I know is that she travelled west. I want to find her." She smiled and looked at her two companions, "Luckily though, I met these two."

Leixia humbly replied to her compliment with a smile. Cassandra stood up, staring intensely at Natsu. She grew frightened, "Is something wrong?"

She could help us, she thought. She could bring them back! "Natsu, come with me, would you?" She gestured, leading her into the other room. The ninja turned back to her friends and shrugged before leaving.

An awkward atmosphere slowly rose from the four people left in the room, Xiba tried to break the ice, "So…you guys like steam buns?"

Cassandra took Natsu out on the upper balcony, it led to a beautiful view of their town. Despite the gorgeous look, she knew Cassandra meant to tell her something, "Your mother…Taki, she was here recently." Natsu gasped, she came so far to find just a clue, and here it was,

"Really?" she began to go hysterical in happiness, "When? Where is she-"

"She was also here 24 years ago."

Now she was even more stunned, "What?"

"She brought back my sister, Sophitia, after they defeated Soul Edge together." Cassandra continued her story or her older sister. Sophitia received an oracle from Hephaestus himself, telling her to destroy the cursed sword on his behalf. After her two journeys, Sophitia married Rothion and had a daughter, Pyrrha, and the year after, a son, Patroklos.

"Okay…but what does this have to do with mother?"

Cassandra went on, "Well, 17 years ago when they were just toddlers, the children found a weird fragment Rothion had brought home in the basement. They went into a frenzy as they fought for it." She grew more and more melancholic, "Sophitia then realized that Soul Edge infected her children, more so her firstborn, Pyrrha." Natsu listened, only waiting for her to mention Taki,

"After that, I left on a journey to destroy Soul Edge for her; I didn't know she was following me to stop me and continue this herself." She remembered it all, "Meanwhile, some psycho girl kidnapped Pyrrha and took her to Osthreinsburg Castle." That was where Soul Edge and the Azure Knight once reigned. "When the freak girl told her the dirty lie that Pyrrha couldn't live without Soul Edge's influence, she sacrificed her soul to it so her daughter could live…"

A soft wind blew, as if due to respect of Sophitia. Natsu grew uneasy, worried for the poor woman. She wasn't finished. "About four years ago…when Patroklos was 15 and Pyrrha was 16, he left to go find her." She took another breath, "He's been gone ever since…"

So a 19 year old man and a 20 year old woman were trapped, possibly killed by now? What was this about? "So…" Cassandra turned to her, with serious eyes,

"Bring them back, and I'll tell you where Taki is."


	4. An Angel's Wings

**Souls_&_Swords: Thank you TaMu (guest), you're too sweet. =) Be sure to read my One Shot I posted recently!**

Natsu stood flabbergasted at the Greek woman's request, "What?" she cringed with spite; she didn't like what was going on. Cassandra mustered an even more demanding appearance,

"Bring back Pyrrha and Patroklos. They're in the Denevér Castle, it's not too far from here; I'll give you horses and you'll be there within twelve hours!"

"No! You're just using this as a way for you to cower here while we do the work!"

Cassandra then showed her all of the scars she'd garnered from battle, some of them were from attempts of getting them back. Natsu took back her words, "You three clearly have potential for coming this far…" she admitted, "I ask you, bring back my niece and nephew…and I'll repay you by telling you where your mother is."

Natsu couldn't let this down…all of their riveting challenges, it'd all be for nothing if they ended up wandering around the continent aimlessly, (though that's what they were doing in the first place). "Cassandra…I'm sorry for what I said," she apologized, "But, after just telling me all of that, I'm frightened."

"It's alright." She comforted, "You won't be alone. You'll have your two friends with you." That helped just a bit, "And you are strong…I can see it in your eyes." That befuddled the young girl,

"You do?" she winced with her jade green eyes.

Cassandra simply nodded, "Absolutely…like my sister." She began to go on about Sophitia again, "She was just a normal baker's daughter before receiving that oracle…she never realized it but she always had this strength in her."

She looked directly into the Asian's eyes upon finishing her statement, "It was the love for her family that gave her power…therefore no one was stronger."

It reminded Natsu of the love she had for Leixia and Xiba; two strangers she met by pure chance were her closest companions. To protect them was her goal…She began to understand Cassandra's reasoning even more. "Will you keep your word?" Natsu quickly shot at her. Cassandra only nodded a simple 'yes'.

The four whom were still in the house were chatting just when the two girls arrived back. Natsu attempted to break the news lightly, looking at her two friends, "Guys…we're going somewhere."

She didn't know how to explain it, but she managed to. The two weren't exactly _excited _for this trip however…

Meanwhile in Hungary of the Holy Roman Empire, there was a tall, diminishing castle. It was surrounded by guards and the halls reeked with evil. A girl with a large ring blade and clad in green clothing whistled a tune to herself, looking at the birds fly by. A woman approached the girl, she wore an elegant white skirt with a padded jacket and long leather boots.

Face sparkling with beauty, a woman of only twenty years, she wore the face of a goddess with her long, layered blonde hair, deep lime eyes with a body of feminine grace. The clad girl saw the Greek ornament walking up and giggled, "Well hello there, someone doesn't look too happy." She mocked, noting the woman's bitter look,

"I did your dirty work!" she tossed a charmed bracelet to the girl, she was forced to torture a woman and steal her goods for attempting to take from the castle. She did so with haste since she wanted to finish her job as fast as possible.

The childish girl looked at the silver pottery in her hand, "Wow Pyrrha, not bad!".

Pyrrha had her arms crossed, angry as ever with the one holding her captive for 17 years. "I guess my heart just might be cold and ruthless like yours, Tira." She sneered. Tira only did her usual irritating giggle,

"Aw, you're too kind!" she laughed some more. Pyrrha only grew more bitter as her nineteen year old brother, Patroklos, who held handsomeness himself, approached,

"Alright Tira, enough with the mocking!" she halted herself, awaiting to see what the siblings would threaten her with this time, "We've been saying this for a long time, but someday, we're going to get out of this place!"

"Pfft-HA HA HA!" she bust out in her hilarity, "Oh please! You've said that for the past four years Patroklos, and as for you pretty Pyrrha," she taunted, "I guess maybe I should be a little more serious; after all, if I hadn't found you using your mommy's precious weapons and locked them away, you just might be a tad more threatening."

Her childish taunting was grating, Pyrrha stepped directly in front of the girl so they were face to face, "You listen here you psychotic bitch," she snarled through her teeth, "Soon, in one fortnight, I will have your head!" It was all she thought about, having been scheming it ever since she was a teenager.

Tira rolled her purple-pink eyes, having been long infected with Soul Edge's evil, "Yeah, right…" she smiled sadistically, giving Pyrrha her own game, "Soul Edge is slowly being found piece by piece," she began in a soft, sinister tone, "Once it's complete, you'll be the next host…you'll be the ruler of all things evil."

As Pyrrha leapt to attack her, Patroklos held her back; they were weaponless, and Tira had a massive weapon that could slice her in two at the blink of an eye. "Well, thanks for the fun, but I've got some killing to do." She gleefully exclaimed before disappearing. She jumped through the large window, heading for the town nearby. Pyrrha growled as she watched the sickeningly jolly girl pace off.

"Pyrrha," Patroklos tried to calm her, "Don't worry, some day we _will _get out of here."

"You've been saying that for four years Patroklos!" she yelled, "She killed our mother! Not before lying to her about my fate!" She stared with intense rage, "If it wasn't for her, none of this would've happened, if it wasn't for Soul Edge." She grumbled.

Patroklos frowned, he learned to deal with his anger in a much…less aggressive way than his older sister, "I know…but our revenge _will _be extracted."

The enchanting woman then frowned, "Let's face it Patroklos; we're nothing but rats…we can't even leave the goddamn tower." She crudely pushed him aside before walking out to the upper balcony. She gazed off into the cities beyond the horizon.

She longed for freedom, to spread her angel wings and fly. She held out her hand, she could touch it she felt…alas, it wasn't to be. It was as if she was dying of thirst and she laid right next to a river. But she couldn't have it…something chained her ankles down onto a dark fate. The wind began to blow.

Pyrrha saw a flock of doves pass over her, she watched them aim towards the sun. She continued to watch them in envy…knowing that one day she would carve her own fate…but today wasn't this day.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Natsu had just finished explaining everything to the two in private, they were still taking in what she'd just said, "So with that, Cassandra promised if we bring them back that she'd tell me where my mother is."

"This is berserk." Leixia stated, "She's bribing you Natsu! For all we know, we could bring them back in perfect condition and she may not even know where your mother is." She blurted.

"Leixia's right." Xiba added, "Why don't we just get out of here? Look for her ourselves?" That was the plan before meeting them anyway.

Natsu felt sympathy for the two siblings now that she thought of it, "I know it's crazy…insane actually, but it's the right thing to do."

Xiba snorted, he'd heard that one before. Natsu sighed, "Okay well…I just think I can understand them…I think we all know what it's like to be locked in a cage."

The attitudes of her friends suddenly changed. Xiba looked at the wall next to him as Leixia looked down at her feet, "You're right." She admitted.

Natsu nodded, at least she had them on the same page, "Okay…so, will you two help me do this one crazy thing before we find my mother?" she seemed to be begging rather than asking. After the two thought about it, which took a good minute of silence, they made up their minds seemingly at the same time.

"I'll do it." Leixia declared, standing by her best friend.

"I'm coming too." Xiba joined in.

And so it was, though Cassandra offered them horses, they decided to go on foot. None of them had any experience with horses (except Leixia but not enough to ride on her own). They would be coming back with two companions along side with them.

"Mother…I'm so much closer to finding you." Natsu thought to herself as they began to the castle of the damned. 


	5. Torment

Tira dragged Pyrrha down into the basement, pinning her to the floor as she wriggled and squirmed to be released, he face full of anger. Tira wasn't happy either, "What's the deal with you trying to sneak around me like that? Huh?" she whispered as they were nose to nose. Pyrrha only angrily continued to try and get her off,

"A wench like you shouldn't even bother going around picking locks!" She yelled throwing the hair pin captive girl had used to try and open the door leading to her mother's weapons. "Did you think you could kill me?" The two's stares both bursting with hate, there was silence as Pyrrha wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of a response, "WELL?"

The only response was the sadistic assassin's echoes, Pyrrha remained silent. Only giving her a glare of animosity. Tira realized how this was going to work, "Not talking, huh?" she looked around, she didn't have her ring blade…and she couldn't kill her since she was Soul Edge's destiny. She then found a small hunting knife a previous victim must've dropped.

Not even when she held up the knife in front of Pyrrha's face would she change expressions. Only gritting her teeth, used to this kind of torture. "Well, as much as I'd hate to ruin that pretty face of yours…" she suddenly changed moods, caressing the woman's cheek, "Naughty children must be punished." She grinned that was in no way comforting at all. Tira rolled down Pyrrha's sleeve,

"I'll make it easier for you, since my name's shorter than yours; I'll only spell out mine!" Pyrrha braced herself, she wouldn't scream or show pain; she would not let Tira get what she wanted. Tira pierced the small blade into her bicep, "T…" she began. Pyrrha felt her body go into shock from the pain, she felt cold liquid rolling down her arm and gather on the floor. She refused to cringe, desperately forcing herself to remain stoic. After that was done, Pyrrha punctured the skin next to it,

"I…"

She wouldn't react, her eyes did grow bloodshot, one tearing up from the physical pain. Tira saw what she was doing and decided to play along, "Hm…this won't do, nope nope!" She squealed, "Maybe if I made this 'pen' work better…" She violently jabbed into Pyrrha's flesh, causing her body in a reflexive response to twitch. She grunted, containing herself not to scream or show pain. "R…" she moaned more sinisterly, she was getting closer to Pyrrha's wrist, remembering she couldn't kill her.

"Hmm…there's no room." She whined, Pyrrha was internally relieved as she'd successfully kept from satisfying her captor, that's when she lifted her other sleeve, looking at her clear, radiant flesh. "I guess I'll just rewrite it on this one!"

She was testing her…the Greek beauty realized it as she prepared herself once again…only this time Tira thrusted the knife deep into her skin, "T…I…" Pyrrha turned her head, trying to breathe through the pain…she shut her eyes, gritting her teeth, Tira saw the girl's violent breathing and continued, "R…" she took painfully long to carve that one.

Pyrrha let out a wince, a subtly groan was released as well. Beads of sweat raced down from her forehead as she tried to remind herself it was almost over,

"A!"

The blood-thirsty lunatic must've hit a muscle or something…because this one **hurt**. Not even just the arm, the pain travelled to Pyrrha's chest as she couldn't hold it in any longer. She let out a high pitched wail into the night. She'd fought it for long enough. Pyrrha was then left there to bleed.

Silence shrouded the area, as even in the woods nearby there wasn't a sound. The wind wasn't blowing, the animals weren't stirring. Not even the rustles of falling leaves seemed to make a sound. There was one thing that broke the silence however,

"Poke poke." Xiba whispered, gently nudging Natsu with his rod. She only moaned, irritated. He'd been doing this for quite a while. He seemed to wait right as she was starting to snooze to tap her again. Leixia was asleep next to them; too exhausted to be awoken (Xiba had tried).

Natsu tried to tolerate it as she began to relax, but Xiba pushed his rod into her back once more, "Poke." He whispered, slightly amused.

"Xiba, please go to sleep." She yawned.

"I can't sleep." He admitted, "I need something to do until I get tired."

How on the blue and green earth was he not tired? After almost drowning, climbing a large rock wall, walking for hours on end… this wasn't possible. Natsu sat up, accepting it. She thought of him as a younger brother,

"Ok…" she yawned once again, "Well, what would you do when you couldn't sleep at home?"

Xiba's hazel eyes showed some sort of confusion, "Well…I never really _slept _to say at home." The confusion was on how to explain his situation. But he wasn't more confused than Natsu,

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I ever did was train and get pummeled…all I could think about was how I'd have to train day after day." It was the anxiousness that dwelled within him that kept him awake. "I'd sleep for like an hour or two, but the rest of the time I was out walking around or training myself so maybe my dad would give me a break."

Walked around and trained…that could explain why that morning Xiba was resting outside of their rooms. "I guess it's just all of _this_ making you wide awake."

"Eh?" Xiba was a simple person; one often had to explain certain things to him.

"You know, leaving home, meeting two new people…almost drowning…going on this huge quest…being in a world you've never been in before." Natsu wasn't talking about Xiba anymore. Though she didn't realize it, she was talking about herself. "I guess how I'm able to sleep is I remind myself that I've made it so far…I never thought I could but I have!"

Natsu looked into the yellow moon, "I just tell myself that…I'm stronger than I thought." She awaited Xiba's response. After a second or two of silence, she looked over to see she'd bored the wild boy to sleep. She grinned, finding it funny. Natsu sighed, lying down on her back.

"Keep it down Natsu, I'm trying to sleep!" A cranky Leixia demanded.

Wait…_that _woke her up? …Whatever.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Pyrrha looked at her new scars the morning after. They itched as they began to scab over; Patroklos had to keep smacking her hand so she wouldn't scratch it. Even though she learned her lesson, this didn't mean she wouldn't stop trying. As they ate their breakfast near the throne room, Tira walked by them heading towards the large doors. "Where are you going?" Patroklos questioned, infuriated even more than usual with the wench,

"Well, I'm off to go look for some more pieces of Soul Edge, in the meantime, our lovely little idiot in charge, Nightmare, expects me at Osthreinsburg to bring him whatever I find." She'd received a letter that was brought to the main gates. "I'll see you two cuties later." She mocked before disappearing.

Pyrrha scratched at her scars through her long sleeve. It wasn't satisfying as her nails were padded by the clothing. "Goddamn it that bitch." This wasn't the first instance where Tira had mutilated one or the other. Patroklos had had it to.

"While she's gone, we're finding that key!" He announced, "We're getting those weapons, and we're hauling our asses out of here!"

"Most fools keep the key to a locked door no more than twenty feet away." Pyrrha added, learning this from experience. There search began as they split up into the large castle, just in case Tira was no _fool_.

The three Asians approached the castle at a distance, staying out of sight of the guards. "Holy…" Natsu muttered, not too pleased with the sight of the amount of security the castle had. Leixia got the message from her reaction,

"Well, we came, we saw, we tried, let's go back." Natsu halted the youngling,

"Hold it! There's gotta be a way to sneak in." she noted, trying to keep in high spirits. Xiba was getting bored, leaning against a tree nearby.

"Natsu, I hate to disappoint you, but LOOK!" She pointed back at the place, "They're everywhere! And they don't exactly look welcoming."

"Hm…" Natsu pondered something, that's when she remembered that they all had weapons, "I know! We can sneak attack them!" she excitedly told her,

"Oh God…" Leixia swiped her face,

"I mean it!" she looked back, slowly planning it, "All we have to do is tell Xiba over there to…Xiba's over there!"

Leixia quickly jumped next to her, "What?" Xiba had wandered off; listening to the idea and approaching the main guard…he stood at least 2 feet over the boy. They watched in horror as he casually greeted himself,

"Hey!" he smiled. There wasn't a response as the guard slowly lifted its sword, "So…is this your place?" He looked behind the man at the castle, "Because it's really impressive!" Was he distracting them? Should they be sneaking in? Natsu kept quizzing herself as Leixia could only worry,

"What is that idiot doing?"

"I mean, I've seen plenty of castles," he lied, "But this has got to be by far the best one!" They noticed the guards slowly forming a circle around him, "Wow…nice security." Perfect, he'd gathered them all in one spot. "So I guess I'm not welcome here…" He slowly unstrapped Kali-Yuga from his back, "I guess I'll just-HIYA!" he suddenly unleashed the Ling Sheng-Su Style Rod on them as he whipped, kicked, and tossed around the guards.

The two girl's mouths dropped as they were stunned at how perfectly his plan was going. After knocking most of them cold, he heard heavy footprints rushing closer to him. Without time to waste, Xiba then whirled around, using his staff to open the man's legs and strike him in the spot he was _positive _would stun him.

"OOH!" Natsu yelped in sympathy for the poor fellow. Xiba then lifted the man with Kali-Yuga, throwing him behind him,

"Go away!" he finished as the man shook the ground with his landing. His finale then consisted of letting out a single, deep breath. "Well, that was fun!" Leixia, appalled walked up to him,

"Ah…eh…how did you…?" just because she knew he was talented didn't mean she exactly liked to be reminded. Xiba didn't do it intentionally, he raised a brow,

"Are you okay?"

"Guys! Come on!" Natsu hurriedly dragged them through the gates. It was time for their plan to take action.


	6. Annihilation

**Souls_&_Swords: What do you think of my new Leixia avatar? I simply love making creations with her ^_^**

The three raced up the hundreds of steps and then scrambled around the throne room, trying to figure out if they should split up or not, "Umm okay, there's probably hundreds of them and three of us…I don't like those odds." Leixia noted, standing close to Natsu.

"Well there'll soon be five, if we find them! Let's split up."

"Split up?" Xiba lowered his staff, "I'm not too sure you can handle being in a huge dark castle on your own." Leixia nodded, feeling that way about _herself_.

"Hey!" Natsu protested, "I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself from any danger." She crossed her arms. Xiba smirked,

"There's a spider on you."

Natsu immediately flinched and wildly looked around her body, "Where?" Upon hearing the two hyenas laughing, she recomposed herself, forcing a giggle, "Heh…Now seriously; we need to do something before someone catches-"

"Ahem…" Leixia interrupted, staring at the peak of the stairs pointing up, Natsu turned around to see a beautiful blonde woman staring at them with either fright, awe, or both. "Um…" Leixia mumbled, "Hello." She smiled.

Pyrrha only screamed and began pelting them with whatever objects she could find, such as vases and potted plants. The scream alerted Patroklos who began to follow the sound of the ruckus. "Wait! We're just-!" Natsu tried to get her to listen, but she was too busy, she'd grabbed a sharp, long metal object from a statue, Xiba had taken cover,

"WHO KNEW GIRLS WERE SO SCARY?" As these were the only girls he'd ever spent time with, let alone interacted with.

"Please stop!" Natsu refrained from taking out her weapons as she simply grabbed the thin, long needle-like rod she had, "We're not going to hurt you!"

"Who are you?" Pyrrha with a look of fury cornered the strawberry-blonde ninja, making sure the 'weapon' was in sight. Natsu then took a second as she took a good look at her…she was so pretty; she'd never seen anyone like her in Japan. No one she knew had blonde hair, rich fair skin or emerald eyes. It was so…unfair.

"Hey! Answer my question!" She snapped Natsu back into reality,

"My name is Natsu, these are my friends." She looked around the room to see where they'd hidden. "We're here to rescue you-"

"Get away!" She tried to swing the rod forward as Natsu slowly set it aside. Pyrrha then changed her attitude, ever so slightly, "You really are here to save us?" Patroklos came rushing down the stairs,

"Your aunt Cassandra sent us." Leixia exclaimed, Pyrrha then knew they were telling the truth. As Patroklos was about to strike Natsu with a fireplace shovel, Pyrrha turned around to stop him. However, Xiba leaped out of hiding and knocked him aside. Patroklos hit the wall and fell over. "Xiba!" Leixia angrily scolded,

"What? He was about to hit her!" He hated her constant criticizing. Pyrrha giggled,

"Relax; I've done worse to him." She joked, lifting her younger brother up. Patroklos dusted himself, "Patroklos, these people came here to help us! Cassandra sent them!"

"Cassandra?" He whispered as if to confirm it. "So…you three…came all this way just to save us?"

Xiba was overly blunt sometimes, "Well actually, we came here originally to-" Leixia stomped his bare foot, "Ow!"

"Yes! We did." Leixia half-fibbed.

"You enjoy causing me pain, don't you?"

Patroklos laughed, "Well…you don't look like you're from around here."

"We're Asian." Natsu confirmed, "I'm from Japan, and these two are from China." The siblings looked at the…interesting trio.

"Huh…you look interesting to be Japanese." Pyrrha noted, entranced in her unique appearance. Natsu rolled her eyes with a smile,

"I get that a lot."

Patroklos then realized something, "Wait! They can help us look for our mother's weapons!"

"Huh?" Leixia just wanted to leave already, the place creeped her out.

"Follow me!" Pyrrha led the four up the long stairs and down multiple narrow hallways, "Long long ago, I found my mother's old sword and shield; I began training myself in secret to I could kill Tira."

"Tira?" Natsu was right behind her.

"She's our captor; I've been her prisoner for as long as I can remember, it's her job to keep me locked up so I can host Soul Edge."

They came to a door, one of many, "Soul Edge?" Leixia was aghast, "But…it's destroyed!" she prayed it was only false hope from Tira,

"They're remaking it…they're finding pieces of it all over Europe…It let off some sort of…" Patroklos tried to find the right word, "Energy that lured them to it."

"This is the room where I saw her lock them away."

Leixia walked up, attempting to turn the knob, "Is there a key?"

"Yes…we've looked everywhere." Leixia got down to the floor, looking through the small crack at the bottom, "She slid it in there!" The two siblings gasped as Leixia reached as far in with her hand as she could. She even strained herself trying to do so, grunting. "I can't reach it." She stood up, she remembered the Kali-Yuga! "Xiba, can you use your staff to-"

"You bet!" He waltzed over to the door, and instead of doing what they expected him to do, he smashed the door open with a heavy pound of his rod. Leixia sighed as Pyrrha and Patroklos rushed in,

"That's not what I meant…"

Xiba giggled as Pyrrha found Sophitia's Elk Shield on the floor like it had been carelessly tossed there. She picked it up and appeared to be deep and thought; she gazed into her own reflection as her mother stared back at her, "This was my mother's…" She then saw the Omega Sword nearby. Equipping them both. Patroklos was gathering another pair of weapons that were lying there; presumably the weapons off a past victim.

As Pyrrha was readying herself, Xiba and Leixia looked around, admiring the weapons. Natsu was staring at Pyrrha…unable to comprehend how…heavenly she was…Pyrrha saw her and Natsu blushed, looking down, "Why are you staring at me?" Natsu only stuttered, not sure how to respond; let alone not sure what she was feeling…it wasn't anger, but she was mad…it wasn't grief, but she felt sad…it was…jealousy.

"Alright, we're ready. Take us back." Patroklos stepped behind her, Natsu turned around and looked up at the brooding young man; so tall and handsome, she blushed deeply before they heard a loud screeching noise.

_CAW! CAW!_

"Jeez, what was that?" Xiba recognized it as a crow, but there was no way some bird could've popped his ear drum like that. Pyrrha panicked,

"Oh God, she's back! You guys have to hide!" Natsu grabbed her swords handles,

"Don't worry!"

Leixia whipped out hers, "We'll be fine!" Pyrrha worried for them, she was now the oldest of the group,

"You don't understand; she's a _lunatic_! If she sees you she **will **kill you!"

Natsu had enough confidence, "It's okay; if we got past all of those guards, one person wouldn't hurt us!" Xiba sneered,

"Well, _I _got past all of the guards." Granted, he never asked for help. That's when from the window, two crows barked and screeched as if in anger of their actions. One of them swooped in and violently pulled and tugged at Natsu's hair, it's claws dug into her scalp,

"Ow! OH GOD!" The others, including Natsu, tried to get it off. They feared of accidentally slicing Natsu rather than the bird, "JESUS! THAT HURTS!" she yelled until she finally smacked it off and killed it; it slid down the wall. Natsu's hair was rattier than she already thought of it to be, but she was in so much more pain than she expected a bird to give her, "The hell…?"

"She controls them!" Patroklos shoved them on top of each other, cramming through the door, "Let's get out of here!" Xiba was knocked out of the room by the crowd, forcing him to lead them through the hallways,

"Which way?"

"Right!" We'll have to find a window or something!" Pyrrha screamed, knowing they couldn't go out the front; she watched at least four more crows found their way in and clawed her face, leaving three long scratch marks. Patroklos pushed himself in front of his sister,

"What's your name, kid?" they came to a stop as he wasn't sure where to turn,

"Xiba!"

"Okay Xiba, head to the left and bust open the basement door!" There had to be a way out from there, only when they were being tortured would Tira give them the key. She was clearly hiding something. Xiba didn't understand,

"What?"  
"GO DOWNSTAIRS AND BREAK THE DOOR OPEN!" he knew he was handy with that staff. Xiba did as told, leaving them behind. As the four prepared themselves for more birds, their lord with dark wings walked around the corner…she_ was not _happy.

"No!" Pyrrha was frightened, she stood in front of her young saviors, Tira hoisted her large ring blade, violence uplifting her soul,

"You sneaky little wench!"

"Back off!" She held out her sword towards her, a look of loathe. It was as if the weapons had given her Sophitia's spirit. "Come any closer and die!" she created a human shield in front of Natsu and Leixia; meanwhile, Patroklos had backed up to peak around the corner; watching Xiba's progress. This door was much more sturdy than the other.

"Aw, how sweet; you think you can protect them from me?" She swung her blade on her wrist; Pyrrha used her faithful shield to block it before nearly nailing her in the gut.

"Come on….Come on…" Patroklos was sweating with anxiety as Xiba suddenly heard a metal clang of the hinge break. He then strapped the staff on his back and attempted to rip the rest open. Unaware of the sociopathic woman nearby.

Pyrrha then resorted to slamming her head with the shield; it had done something as not only Tira fell to her knees holding her head, but her voice octave had rose a level…as if she became a different person.

Xiba got it, "Guys! I did it!"

"Go! Go! **Go**!" Pyrrha pushed the two girls down the hall and they raced down the steps, even though Tira was in a better mood, this only meant she'd be even more enthusiastic about killing.

Xiba and Patroklos were the first to race in, as Leixia was half way down; she saw skeletons, and one body that was still rotting. While the others ignored the stench, Leixia gasped, feeling her stomach growing the need to vomit violently. Natsu bumped into her, unaware that she had stopped. Pyrrha slammed the door shut and held it closed.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Natsu decided to help hold it closed, two were better than one. Xiba walked around as he felt something that didn't quite go along with the rest of the wall, "Is this a door…?" Patroklos walked up to him,

"Holy mother of-! It is!" It was well blended in, but it was there.

"Aren't these things underground?" Xiba added his only knowledge of basements.

"Not this one…" Patroklos lifted his sword, "Thanks to the hundreds of steps, this is still above ground." He let out a war shout as she impaled it with his sword, "Help me out kid!" Xiba took out Kali-Yuga and engaged in violently pelting the door.

Leixia still hadn't gone down the steps yet, backed up against the wall drowning in horror…she'd never seen a corpse before…especially one that was rotting before her eyes. The black, ash like flesh, shriveled limbs and inhumanly long hair, at least it appeared. Her heart pounded as her stomach's fluids were climbing up her throat, looking for a way out.

"Leixia!" She didn't respond, Natsu and Pyrrha were giving in as the door was violently thrashed on, "We need your help!" She was too stunned to comprehend her words. Xiba and Patroklos felt like they were getting nowhere, they were in a desperate hurry. Natsu was too terror-stricken to notice her unhinged condition; even her energy wasn't helping keep the door shut, "LEIXIA!"

It snapped her back into reality, which wasn't any better than her horrific fantasy. She climbed back up the steps; the three's combined weight shut the door, even though Leixia was a mere 90 pounds. The two men finally heard the sound of some sort of latch snapping and Patroklos forcefully thrusted his shield onto the door, cracking it open. He continued as Xiba called to them,

"Guys! We found a way out!"

Not even bothering to come up with a plan, they decided to slam it at once and perhaps knock Tira away. Leixia was closest to the edge; she swiped her ring blade through. Frightening her, she screamed. After slamming the door with all of their weight combined, they hauled it out of the door, leading into the sun's blinding light.

"Don't fight! Just run!" Patroklos yelled as they high tailed it into the forest, and then deeper, and then deeper than that. There was too much adrenaline in their bodies to realize how exhausting this was.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

After a long enduring chase from nothing, the five of them found a spot that satisfied them. A couple fell to their knees while the rest were barely standing; Xiba leaned heavily into his rod, breathless. Natsu limped over to a rock, lying against it, "Is…everyone alright?" she struggled just to say that.

They only responded with gasps and moans. However Leixia suddenly started whimpering. She looked at her arm, which hurt more than any pain she'd ever felt, "I'm bleeding." She squeaked with terror. It caught the attention of the others. "H-How am I…It hurts!" she began to fall apart at her wound, "PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" Natsu rushed over but found Pyrrha suddenly at her side,

"Shh…" she quietly hushed her, laying the terror-stricken girl down on her back, "Shh…it's okay." She quietly comforted her, wiping her bangs which were stuck to her forehead from sweat, "It's okay, I'll help you." Leixia slowly simmered down, her voice was so soothing…so warming. "We're here, we've got you."

Natsu walked over to her, sitting next to Leixia, the wound looked deep and painful, like something was plunged into it rather than sliced open. Upon farther observation, Pyrrha noticed something, "There's a shard in there."

"A shard?" Natsu hadn't a clue on what to do about that.

Leixia was breathing heavily in her pain, only being driven by anxiety of the pain to come. "Yes." Pyrrha confirmed, "That's why there's no blood seeping out…" she took off her leather glove and rolled up her sleeve. She was unaware that Natsu had caught a glimpse of the "T" shaped scar on her.

"Sweetie," she motherly spoke to the teenager, gently putting her hand on her stomach, "I need you to stay still and be calm…I have to get the piece of metal out of there…then I'm going to bandage it, okay?"

"With what?" Xiba added; they didn't have their supplies with them. Pyrrha then took her mother's sword and cut off her long sleeve, it stretched out and it was padded; a good substitution for an injury.

She set it on her knees and she prepared Leixia once more, "Are you ready?"

"I'll try." She whimpered, terrified. Natsu tightly clasped her friend's hand, in which she squeezed it in return. As Pyrrha slowly began to pull, Leixia involuntarily twitched, letting out a gasp, it was **painful**. She let out soft tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

"Leixia," Pyrrha tried to assert how important it was to be still, "I need you to try and keep a hold of yourself." It seemed easy to her with all the pain she'd been through…especially last night's. Natsu took her tone harshly,

"Pyrrha, she's never been through this!"

Pyrrha's emerald eyes shined in realization as she called over her brother and Xiba. "Listen, you guys have to hold her down." She affirmed to all of them. Though it seemed the boys were the physically strongest of them. "Xiba, you get her head, Patroklos, her left arm, and Natsu, her ankles." Pyrrha held down Leixia's right wrist. Xiba gently held both sides of her head, not too happy about this; not as worried as Natsu.

Leixia was like her sister…to see her in pain was like staking part of her with a knife. She hesitated as Pyrrha was losing time, "Natsu! Hurry up! This could get infected!" Her biting harsh words startled her as she pinned down her ankles.

"Okay, it's deep, so I have to slowly pull it out then once it's at a good spot, rip it out!"

"What?" Leixia became terrified, "Won't that damage the flesh even more?"

"No, it'll make the pain not last as long."

She slowly reached her bare hand in, as she slowly craned the metal shard up Leixia's body wanted to twitch and shake violently as the three struggled to hold her down, "IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" She was positive death could be less painful. Pyrrha had to swipe her hand back as she had to use two hands to hold down her arm. Natsu felt tears form in her eyes as she watched her dearest friend cry out in pain.

Xiba squeezed her head, "Leixia! Leixia…" He had her attention, "Remember what I said about being afraid?" he had to motivate her to be still somehow, Leixia found herself breathing, which made her body ache more than the wound, "Do you remember? Back at the temple?"

"Even if you're afraid…you refuse to die?"

Xiba nodded "That's right; we need you to do this for us right now…except with pain. Even though you're afraid of it, don't let it kill you." Natsu's tears were crawling out of her eyes as she held her hand,

"Do it for us, Leixia." Leixia then understood the concern of her two friends…if they didn't get this out, it could kill her.

"Don't let this burden you." She told herself out loud. Sweat formed in the thins of her palms as she braced herself. "Don't let this kill you."

Pyrrha then reached in once more, this time Leixia endured the pain, cringing and yelling, but her body remained still as it could be. When it was finally at the good spot, Pyrrha snatched it out of her torn flesh! Splats of blood dripped from it as she tossed it aside never to be seen again.

Leixia's cries broke the silence of the forest as Pyrrha quickly wrapped her arm with the handmade bandage. She breathed heavily, she'd done it…it was over. Ironically, Natsu was the one crying of the two, she wrapped her arms around Leixia's neck.

Finally, they were safe and sound.


	7. Family

Nightfall had brought itself to the land as the moon shone its white face brightly. Not a single animal stirred, only the songs of crickets and the hooting of owls. The gang hadn't returned home, they were all too tired and decided to camp out that night. Pyrrha gently pressed her hand over Leixia's bandage,

"How does this feel?" her doting, caring voice was absolute music to the ears,

"It feels better."

Pyrrha smiled, "Just keep applying pressure on it every now and then, it'll ease the pain."

Leixia simply had to show her gratitude, "Thank you, Pyrrha." She bowed with her hands clasped, the only way she'd known how. Pyrrha smiled, gently stroking her bangs,

"No, thank you for saving us. You're all very brave." She announced. After walking off to try and consult with her brother on how they were about to readjust their lives, Leixia knew she had another person to thank…she saw Xiba playfully flipping his rod in the air and catching it, bored.

She shyly approached him, "Um…Xiba?" her voice drew his attention away as the rod landed on his head. He rubbed the sore spot,

"Hey, how's your arm?"

"It hurts a little, but it's much better."

He nodded, picking up Kali-Yuga, "That's good." He went back to fiddling with it. She brushed her long Chinese braids over her shoulder, this boy was so strange; he didn't seem to expect a thank you, let alone seemed to know he'd done something significant. The girl blushed gently as she gained the courage to speak,

"Xiba…" she had his attention again, he looked at her curiously, "I…Um…Thank you." Now he was confused,

"Uh…you're welcome?"

"I mean for what you did earlier." She sat down in front of him, his gentle hazel eyes looked around, trying to make sense of this sudden thanks,

"For holding your head down?"

Leixia sighed at his seemingly cluelessness, only with a smile this time, "No, for reminding me what you told me…how even when you're afraid you can't give in." Xiba raised a brow,

"Oh that?" That was a big deal? "It's just something I learned to do…" while he understood the significance of helping her endure the pain, he didn't necessarily understand why she was giving him gratitude,

"But…you've been through so much…your father hurting you and…your mother dying…" she felt guilty; she'd lived a spoiling life compared to him; she had both of her parents, one who was proud and praising of his daughter, allowing her to live the life she wants. "I'm just…appalled at how you taught yourself to endure the pain."

Xiba was capable of being serious and having deep conversations, that didn't mean he was used to them, he sighed, "I mean…when you grow up like that and you don't know any different…you just _have _to find away to cope with it…" he admitted, his life playing behind his eyes, "Or else life destroys you." He didn't have a choice. His father never gave him one, and Edge Master, the only one who even seemed to listen to his speaking out, wasn't of custody of him.

Leixia looked at Xiba with a new perspective; he was much more than a wild boy with some talented fighting skills…he was also a struggling teenager, who needed someone to listen, even if he didn't show it. And her…she was just a self-centered and cocky girl who only cares about winning in battle. She covered her eyes, realizing how harshly she'd mistreated others throughout her life.

Xiba heard her sniffle; he sat upright, "Leixia?" She hid her tears as she sobbed,

"Xiba, I'm sorry." Her throat lumped up as she breathed heavily, "I'm sorry for the things I said." He was surprised as he rubbed her arm,

"Hey…it's okay." He _attempted _to comfort her while Natsu watched the siblings ramble to each other. She gingerly walked up to them,

"Um…excuse me?" she had their attention, "Thank you for helping Leixia; she's stronger than she looks, but-"

"That won't be necessary." The dreadfully handsome man said. Natsu tried to keep herself from blushing, "You're the ones who deserve the thanks." Pyrrha smiled,

"If it wasn't for you, we never would've escaped."

"We always hoped people like you would come along."

Natsu just couldn't accept the praise. Her humility was quite grating at times. She could only smile and blush like a child. "It's alright."

"We would like to know one thing though," Patroklos continued, "How did Cassandra find you two?"

Pyrrha was more curious about something else, "And what are Asians doing all the way over here in the first place? Greece isn't exactly a fun place for a holiday." She joked.

"Um…that's not important…" she tried to hide her embarrassment, fearing they'd get mad if they found out it was a bargain. "We were on a boat and…it crashed so we-"

"Crashed?" Patroklos said amazed, "So you three survived a ship wreck?"

"That's crazy." Pyrrha sincerely added, realizing that there's something more powerful within her.

"Well…yes…" she was at a loss of words,

"But why were you three on that ship is what we're asking." Patroklos reminded, scratching the back of his head.

Natsu couldn't lie, there was no way, "Well…you see, I…" she feared their response, "I'm looking for my mother." Their eyes widened simultaneously, "I was taken away from her when I was three and…Well, the only thing I knew about her was that she travelled west of Japan…so I came here on this land and pretty soon I met Leixia and Xiba." She paused, her heart slowly increased in speed. "After we crashed we met your aunt and your uncle and father…" she had their full attention, she was hoping they'd get bored and tune her out, "When I told your aunt my mother's name, she said she saw her recently and knew where she was."

The brother and sister looked at each other, realizing what was going on, "I promised her I'd bring you two back if she told me where my mother was…But I'm happy I did it!" she got down on her hands and knees, "I'm grateful to have met such wonderful and brave people!" she felt immensely remorseful.

Patroklos' green eyes shimmered, "So…she gave you a choice, right?" Natsu looked up, her eyes wet and soggy,

"Yes."

"And you chose to save us…even though you could've just left and searched for her on your own."

Pyrrha didn't understand it, "Why?"

Natsu gained the courage to sit upright and look at the two, "I don't know…I guess the feeling of yet another family being torn apart got to me." She was shaking with the fear that they'd somehow get angry. "I feel like if I bring one family back together, then surely I'll be able to get my own back." She poured her heart out to these complete strangers. Surprisingly they listened to her and grinned.

"Well, no matter your goals, you saved us." Patroklos reassured her that she'd done nothing wrong. Pyrrha lovingly laid her head on her brother's shoulder,

"We'll always remember you for this." She smiled. For the first time in her life, she felt at peace. As Natsu's heart was eased from fear, she smiled,

"I'll never forget you two either." That was a guarantee on both ends. After a long day's end, the five eventually lied down and rested.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Natsu was awoken by a savage, stabbing pain behind her left shoulder. She jerked upright with a gasp grasping it. It caught her completely off guard, she breathed heavily, pinching the flesh over Arahabaki's seal. The pain slowly faded as she was able to catch her breath, her heart rate decreased after the sudden shock.

"You alright?" A voice whispered from nearby, it was Xiba, who was awake and unable to sleep as usual; he was fiddling with his Kali-Yuga and spacing out before he heard her wake up. She remembered she had yet to tell him of Arahabaki.

"I'm fine." She simply stated, hoping he wouldn't go any farther,

"Um, okay. You looked like you were having nightmares." He admitted. When he occasionally glanced over at the sleeping crowd he could see her distressed look.

"I wasn't, I was sleeping way too hard for that." That was definitely the truth, "I guess I was just in pain."

Xiba nodded, "That might explain why you kept grabbing your shoulder."

What? Now this was happening unconsciously? "I was?"

"Well, yeah. In your sleep. You kept turning over and grabbing at your shoulder." He remembered worrying and wondering if he should wake her up, "It was like you were trying to rip your skin off." Shaken by his description she put her hand over the mark,

"Oh…really?" Was Arahabaki using her to try and free himself? Or was it some sort of torture? Or perhaps it was just an unconscious attempt to ease the pain. "Well, it's over now…" she reassured herself and Xiba.

He went back to spinning his staff, now that Natsu was wide awake, she couldn't help but ask, "So, have you slept yet?"

He casually nodded, focused on Kali-Yuga "No, my mind was in ten different places; I eventually gave up on trying." He couldn't seem to get a hold of his thoughts sometimes. However, he always managed to fall asleep eventually.

"What were you thinking about?"

Xiba really didn't feel like talking about it, he shrugged, "I don't really know, lots of stuff." That was half of the truth anyway.

"Oh…alright." She lied down on her side, "I'm just gonna try and go back to sleep." Xiba nodded in acknowledgement, "Xiba…" she wasn't sure how to put this without frightening him, "If someday…you see me doing that again and I don't realize it, please stop me."

The auburn haired boy took it casually, "No problem."

Natsu then drifted back into an uncomfortable sleep.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-X

Cassandra and Lucius watched Rothion standing anxiously outside of their home; he'd desperately been waiting for his children's arrival. Cassandra was beginning to doubt the teenagers' strength. None of them had been able to sleep or eat. It was midday and he'd been standing for hours. Lucius spoke to his sister, "Cassandra, I don't think they're coming back…"

"Lucius, that's not true; it's a long journey and I'm sure they just-"

"They just lied to you and betrayed us!"

Cassandra had no response as she held her mouth agape, before looking away. Lucius stood up to step outside, "I'll go tell him." Not even one step out of the door did the men's moods change, Cassandra heard the gasping and turned back around. On the horizon, a man and a woman approached them, blonde hair and green eyes.

Cassandra and Lucius rushed outside to Rothion's side, unable to believe their eyes. Rothion saw the girl's face and weaponry, "S…Sophitia!" he called, mistaking his daughter for her mother. Pyrrha then couldn't contain herself and sprinted towards her father,

"No!" she threw herself into his arms, crying, "It's me! Pyrrha!" He held her head out so he could see her face, her strikingly familiar face,

"Pyrrha…my daughter…" he cried himself, "What a beautiful woman you've become." Patroklos soon enough rushed over and joined in the family hug. The Greek family then grew hysterical as they held each other and cried.

From a distance, allowing them to have some alone time, three teenagers stood, proud of the results of their deed.


End file.
